It was neither an auditory nor a visual hallucination.
A system window had truly appeared before him.
However, thinking it might be due to the hallucinogenic painkillers prescribed to him after he was diagnosed as terminally ill, he hurriedly rolled up his sleeves.
“It’s gone!”
After confirming that the blue spots covering his arms had vanished, Min-hyuk finally smiled brightly and rejoiced with pure joy.
[Choi Min-hyuk — 31 years old]
[Butcher (EX) — You are good at killing monsters.]
[Butcher’s Gaze — You can see where to dismantle.]
[Butcher’s Senses — You move in the optimal way suited for dismantling.]
[Butcher’s Body — You gain a physique suited for dismantling.]
[※ The remaining skills will be unlocked once additional conditions are met.]
For an EX-grade, there were no grand skills.
Compared to S-grade skills, which had flamboyant names, these names and descriptions were incredibly simple.
“I don’t really get it.”
Now that he had awakened, he didn’t quite have a sense of how to fight.
But one thing was certain.
“Did I just get better at dismantling?”
Even as a non-awakened person, Min-hyuk was considered one of the best in Korea when it came to low-level monsters.
If someone like him became even better at dismantling?
He might become the best not just in Korea, but in the world.
But before that, he was curious.
EX-grade.
Not S-grade, which was world-ranker level.
Nor SS-grade, located at the world’s top tier, but an out-of-spec grade.
Just what was the power this grade held?
As he wondered, a system window popped up.
[Would you like to enter the Tower?]
Normally, one would refuse, report the awakening to the Hunter Bureau, and climb after sufficient preparation.
However, there were occasionally those who could climb without such preparation.
S-grades.
Monster-like beings, of which only a few existed in a country, climbed the Tower and overwhelmed it from the start.
Since he was an EX-grade, he should be able to achieve even more overwhelming results.
“Yes.”
The moment he answered, the scenery around him began to distort, and he started to be sucked into somewhere.
His momentarily dazed consciousness returned after he arrived in a place filled with forests.
[Survive in the Slime Forest for the time limit.]
[Time Limit: 2 hours]
Min-hyuk, staring blankly at the system window, looked around.
As if to give him minimal survival tools since he entered empty-handed, several weapons were stuck in the ground around him.
“So this is what they meant.”
Since it had been a long time since the Tower appeared, a lot of information had been released.
Thus, a certain saying circulated among hunters regarding the 1st floor.
‘The Tower’s first and last kindness.’
This kindness, consisting of nothing more than a few weapons stuck in the ground and an inextinguishable bonfire, was the final act of consideration.
The bonfire was a kind of safe zone.
The weapons were the bare minimum provided to hunters who had nothing.
Because of this, some hunters were so terrified they wouldn’t take a single step out of the safe zone.
But Min-hyuk was different.
He wanted to test his strength, so he examined the weapons.
“They’re all good.”
Beyond being razor-sharp, they were even faintly imbued with a blue light.
This, too, was the Tower’s kindness.
Since it was difficult to cut monsters with ordinary weapons, it provided weapons imbued with a small amount of mana.
“Ah…”
The moment he picked up a weapon, it felt like instructions on how to use it were being hammered into his head.
[You have awakened mana.]
Along with the message that he had awakened mana, he began to feel his body fill with it, and he could even sense the mana in the surroundings.
He was briefly flustered by the strange sensation, but just as he moved away from the bonfire to get used to it…
He felt something in the distance.
A strange sensation, like someone following from behind, felt from all directions.
Rustle.
The moment his sensitive hearing caught the rustling sound, he reflexively turned his head and swung his weapon.
At that moment, a solid line appeared on the body of the attacking creature, and he instinctively swung his sword along that line.
“Ah…”
A single swing was enough.
How to utilize mana, how to move, how his body had changed, everything was clearly awakened as if it had been hammered into his head.
Having clearly realized what kind of skills he had obtained, Min-hyuk quietly watched the monsters approaching him.
Sizzle!
Was there a problem during the killing process?
A sizzling sound came from his skin.
Normally, part of his skin should have melted from the slime’s acid.
However, Min-hyuk’s skin was only slightly flushed.
[Butcher’s Body resists the attacks of the dismantling target.]
He unconsciously smiled at the system window informing him that he had gained resistance to the monster’s acid.
He smiled without realizing it because one thing he had to worry about had disappeared.
‘I can see them.’
Red lines appeared on the bodies of the slimes that had gathered before he knew it.
As he stared at the optimal paths he could cut with his current weapon, he saw the squishy beings—which had been lunging haphazardly like jellyfish moments ag
—now cautiously observing him.
When he took a step toward them, one monster finally couldn’t take it anymore and began to pounce.
At that moment, Min-hyuk’s sword began to dance.
Slice!
He cut through the slime as smoothly as parting water, slicing the core.
Then, as if enraged by their comrade’s death, they rushed from all directions, but it was useless.
He began to cut down all sorts of slimes as if skillfully dismantling meat.
[You have killed over 100 slimes. Giant Slimes will now appear.]
While he was cutting them down frantically, a system window popped up, and giant slimes appeared, knocking down trees.
But even this time, red lines were visible.
‘Can I cut that far?’
With an ordinary person’s body, it seemed impossible to cut through giant slimes that looked to be 2.5 meters tall in one go.
His doubts vanished as his body moved reflexively when the giant slime approached.
He clearly experienced why hunters exert superhuman strength upon awakening.
Min-hyuk, who leaped 3 meters in a single bound, split the giant slime vertically.
After putting enough strength into his thighs to make them feel like they would burst, he cut the next giant slime in half horizontally with a single stroke.
He stepped aside from another slime that lunged in a surprise attack and slashed it diagonally.
At the same time, he cut down the slime that rushed in behind him while spinning, then took steps to peel off the chunks as if carving them into pieces.
“…This is fun.”
Even though he had just awakened, he found the battle against life-threatening monsters enjoyable.
Was it because he had room to breathe?
He now began to research ways to preserve the slime chunks as much as possible rather than just hacking them apart.
While the slimes were filled with acidic fluid inside, the squishy outer skin tissue was surprisingly non-acidic.
‘Those are surprisingly profitable.’
If processed well, they become great ingredients for skin care.
Was that all?
If mixed with slime cores in a certain ratio and combined with special herbs, they could even become potions.
Because they melt away upon death and are hard to obtain, slime pieces are traded at quite a high price.
To the point where there were even hunters who specialized in hunting only slimes.
“So that’s all money.”
Min-hyuk, whose eyes had now turned greedy, began moving toward the slimes in earnest with a chilling smile.
Did it read his will?
Red lines began to be drawn along paths to peel off the giant slime’s outer skin, rather than the previous method of cutting them in half.
Splash, splash!
As he killed them by gradually stripping away the squishy outer skin as if peeling tissue, did the Tower not like it?
[Special Slimes will now appear.]
Slimes imbued with elemental powers.
Some slimes breathed frost, while others spat fire.
Still others emitted poisonous smoke.
At that moment, the previously simple red lines began to change into a dizzying array.
It was as if simple movements were no longer enough, guiding him to perform complex footwork.
However, the strategy remained the same this time.
Peel off as much of the outer skin as possible.
Then, slice the core instantly and secure it before it melted in the acidic fluid.
He just had to fight while adhering to these two things.
The moment he thought of it, the red lines showed the optimal path, and his body reacted and moved immediately.
“Hahaha!”
Was it because what he had dreamed of so much was being realized?
He began to slaughter even the special slimes with a broad grin.
[Variant Slimes will now appear.]
He watched with a smile as another type of slime appeared.
The new slimes were fascinating.
They sprouted spikes like hedgehogs, formed giant shields, and even condensed and fired acidic fluid.
But the moment they began to transform, the way to crush the variant slimes was being mapped out in Min-hyuk’s mind.
Just as it had been with the giant and special slimes, the variant slimes only had their outer skins gradually peeled away.
[1 hour has passed. From now on, more slimes will gather.]
After an hour, they began to swarm toward Min-hyuk from all sides, as if everything until now had been a warm-up.
Strangely, an escape route toward the bonfire remained open.
An escape route left open as if to say this was enough, and he should now return to the bonfire to rest.
But Min-hyuk, as if he had no intention of doing so, planted his feet firmly and waited for the slimes to swarm in.
—Muuuooo!—
[The Slime King has appeared.]
Was it to punish the human who acted greedily despite its mercy?
Finally, a massive slime appeared.
“Right. This is it.”
A massive slime that looked to be 4 meters tall.
Along with it, an army of over several hundred slimes.
Even though a scale of monsters unbelievable for just the 1st floor was swarming in, Min-hyuk burst into laughter and took a step forward.
At that moment, they began their attack all at once, as if mercy had ended.
Red lines, tangled in a complexity incomparable to before.
Min-hyuk’s sword dance, performed by moving here and there along those lines, eventually cut down all the slimes, leaving only the Slime King.
A total offensive from a slime that seemed to combine the giant, special, and variant slimes.
Despite the attacks from hundreds of tentacle-like appendages made by transforming its massive body, despite the acidic fluid spat from holes opened all over its body, and despite the frost and poisonous gas it emitted, it was useless.
Under Min-hyuk’s sword, which evaded everything with agile movements, only its outer skin was gradually being carved away.
Finally, having brutally stripped away all its outer skin, the Slime King, trembling in agony as Min-hyuk stood over it, wailed pitifully.
—Muung! Muuuuung!—
It was as if the Slime King was crying out, asking why he was doing this to it.
As if granting mercy to such a Slime King, he cut through its body and pulled out the core.
At that moment, system windows began to pop up one after another.
[You have cleared the Slime King.]
[1st Floor Perfect Clear!]
[Subspace is provided as a reward.]
[Due to the Perfect Clear, the 1st-floor weapons and the inextinguishable bonfire are provided as rewards.]
[Slime outer skins and intact cores are placed into the subspace.]
[You have obtained the Title: Slime Slayer.]
[In recognition of your Perfect Clear of the 1st Floor, you may register your name in the Hall of Fame. Would you like to register?]
“No.”
The moment he answered, a cluster of bright light began to envelop Min-hyuk, as if his business on the 1st floor was finished, just like when he was first brought to the Tower.